I never suggested this... Like I said, ideally teams prefer to go with 14 forwards and 7 defensemen. Booth and Witkowski would be my 13th and 14th forwards...
Frk is nothing like Pulkkinen other than their shot...

Again, I don't think anyone is suggesting that we sign either Booth or Parenteau to play regularly above any of the kids. The only way they should be signed is as a depth forward (regular healthy scratch) playing a scattered game in a pinch (game day injury type situations). If we only had 6 defensemen on the active roster, I'd be completely fine with signing Dennis Wideman to a PTO and giving him a one year contract as a depth defenseman. Players on the active roster have to sit every night. We're not going to call up Svechnikov to sit, nor are we going to call him up to sit Sheahan or whoever else. Booth is the exact type of player you want as your 13th forward in my opinion. Hell, I would have even been okay with Miller coming back, strictly as the 13th forward, and I'm sure you know how I feel about Miller as a hockey player...

Cholowski was assigned to Prince George of the WHL today. It was expected sooner or later, but I would have liked to see him play another game or two. Oh well, hopefully he dominates the W this season and helps the Griffins this spring.

I don't see a "need" for Parenteau or Booth either... I'm not even saying that we necessarily SHOULD sign either of them, just that I'd be okay with it if Booth were signed as a depth forward. Neither would (should) be signed to play in the top 9, like Daley is to play in the top 4.

IF Green is traded, it would be because we're out of playoff contention. In which case, it would be wise to give players like Hicketts, McIlrath or whoever else a look, not rely on a 34 year old veteran to eat big minutes.

Sheahan would have to be traded before the season starts if we sign Athanasiou, unless a player goes on LTIR. Green won't be traded until the deadline, if at all. HUGE difference.
Like I said, "I know, I know, Sproul sucks...".

Athanasiou isn't signed yet, and although I think (hope) he will be in the coming weeks, there's no guarantee. Also, if / when he does sign, we will have to make another move, likely trading Sheahan (to Pittsburgh), which would once again put us back to 11 forwards. I think Frk should / will make the team, bringing us up to 12 forwards. I think Svechnikov should / will start the season in Grand Rapids, as the first injury call-up. Bertuzzi is out for the first few weeks and will likely return to Grand Rapids, if nothing more than for a conditioning stint. I'd be completely okay with signing Booth or Parenteau (preferably Booth) as a depth 12th / 13th forward for injury insurance.
If Kronwall spends most of the season on LTIR, the Daley signing works out. If we're completely healthy and waive Sproul (I know, I know, Sproul sucks...), it's a bad signing in my opinion.
My ideal lineup would look something like...
Tatar - Zetterberg - Nyquist
Abdelkader - Larkin - Mantha
Athanasiou - Nielsen - Frk
Helm - Sheahan - Glendening
Booth / Witkowski
This only works though if Kronwall (or someone else) goes on LTIR.
If / when we want to recall Bertuzzi, assuming everyone else remains healthy (doubtful), we could then waive one of Booth / Witkowski.

I was more pissed about the players we passed over (Vilardi / Liljegren) than I was actually taking Rasmussen, but I'll be more than willing to eat crow if he turns out to be a stud. I'll admit he has looked very good in these pre-season games, which is great, but it's still early in his development. I'm still not sure if he can become a legit 1C, which is what you should expect from a top 10 pick, but a 2C wouldn't be the worst thing. Really rooting for this kid. Still a boom or bust in my eyes...

The goal is to have optimal passing AND shooting lanes, which in turn gives you better scoring opportunities, which in theory would boost scoring... No one would claim that Frk would have the same effect on the power-play as a player like Ovechkin, but it's not unreasonable to think his shot could boost our power-play. Imagine me saying the same thing about Eaves a few years ago. You would have had the exact same lame argument. But guess what? Eaves is Dallas being used the same way I'm suggesting we use Frk, and it's working out quite well for them. Frk has a deadly shot, and it would only take a couple times of unloading that cannon before teams would start to take notice.
Nothing is going to change, unless we change our power-play set up, but it looks like we have somewhat early in the pre-season. If we stick with a power-play that revolves around shooters on both sides of the ice, I think Frk would be well served as one of our triggermen. Pulkkinen is smaller, weaker on the puck and a weaker skater. That's why he didn't make it here. I think the only legitimate comparison between the two, is their shot, other than that, they're completely different players. But speaking of Pulkkinen, he's scored two power-play goals with Vegas in two games in the exact same spot. Waiting on the left half boards for teammates to find him and unleash the shot. I realize it's just pre-season, and time and space will be cut in half in the regular season, but I think Frk would be capable in finding that time and space. Give him a shot.
I'm not saying Frk is the answer to our power-play woes, I'm just saying that he could help. I think he would. You don't. You're probably right. It's likely that players, coaches, and analysts are wrong...

Ideally we'd like to go with 14 forwards and 7 defensemen. We currently have 11 forwards (Zetterberg, Nielsen, Nyquist, Tatar, Larkin, Mantha, Abdelkader, Helm, Sheahan, Glendening, Witkowski), and 8 defensemen (Daley, Green, DeKeyser, Jensen, Kronwall, Ericsson, Ouellet, Sproul), with others knocking on the door. We need to sign / call up 3 forwards (Athanasiou, Frk, Svechnikov, Bertuzzi (injured), Booth, Parenteau). With the Daley signing, we need to waive a defenseman (Ouellet, Sproul), with no room for any players to "earn a spot" (Hicketts, Cholowski, McIlrath), unless there are injuries (Kronwall, Ericsson?)
If Holland were capable in making the "tough decisions" and trading / waiving a player, and going with the 7 best defensemen, I'd be okay with the Daley signing. But because we know a younger player will suffer, that's why I never liked the signing. There's no question Daley makes our defense better, but for a team that needs to rebuild and go with a youth movement, that's the only reason I think it was a bad signing for us.

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